The Sun, the Stars, and the Moon
by tidalbear
Summary: Post BOO, Percy and Annabeth are roadtripping from New York to San Francisco to attend college in New Rome. Very fluffy and Percabethy. On their way they stumble onto a dangerous plot and must call their friends at Camp Half Blood and New Rome to help them save the world one more time. Very Percabethy, starts out fluffy but will get serious.
1. Chapter 1

It was a still, misty day that Percy and Annabeth set off on their journey. The heavy, humid white air blanketed the metropolis of New York city like a warm hug, an ocean fog come in to meet the shore.

The two teenagers had said their goodbyes at Camp Half Blood two days ago, on August 20th. They had cleared out their bunks and left their friends with hugs and sarcastic comments. The camp would have to make do without its two favourite counselors for the last couple of weeks. It would be a shame to miss the end of summer fireworks, but there were more exciting things for Percy and Annabeth to look forward to.

Now they stood outside Percy's parents' apartment building, an older classic New York four story of redbrick with black metal balconies. The last bags had been loaded into the trunk of the car. The pair were used to travelling light, what with constantly going off on quests with nothing but a small backpack, and that if they were lucky. They had little to their name. One large solid hiking backpack each, with clothes, camp gear, weapons, etc. One duffle bag each: Percy's full of bits and bobs like his sea glass collection, some blue food colouring, his camera and photography gear, a ukelele. Annabeth's was mostly full of books, which Percy had teased her for as she had dragged it down the stairs. She was bringing several of her architecture book, but also a decent collection of fiction she planned to plow through on the road.

Sally and Paul had pitched in as a birthday present to both Percy and Annabeth to help them afford the used deep blue Volkswagen diesel that now sat fully fueled up at the curb. It was a long hatchback, with a roomie trunk and seats that leaned all the way back, making car-camping reasonably comfortable. Now, Sally was tearing up as she embraced Percy. They had been hugging for at least two minutes, and Annabeth figured it was starting to become comical.

"My babies are going off to school! I'm so proud of you two." Sally was saying. It was sweet, thought Annabeth, how Sally seemed to have adopted her as her daughter in her mind so quickly.

"Make sure you eat well on the road, no getting fast food every day! Buy groceries! Get a salad once in a while." Sally continued. "Drive safe, and keep your sword on you, you'll be open to monster attacks until you get to New Rome."

"Sal, it's time to let them go. They'll be alright. From the stories I hear, it'll take more than a random monster attack to hurt these guys. The monsters should be scared." Paul intervened with a grin, putting an arm around Sally as she and Percy separated.

Annabeth kissed Sally on the cheek one last time, and gave Paul a quick hug, before turning and hopping into the passenger seat of the car. Percy hugged his step dad a little longer.

"I love you guys. I'll send pictures from the trip, and text every few days." Percy got in behind the wheel. As he shifted into gear and pulled away from the curb, they waved and yelled goodbye out the open windows. Moments later, Percy turned the corner, and home disappeared from view.

Annabeth bounced excitedly in her seat. "We're on the road! Woohoo! New Rome, here we come, and everywhere between here and there!" Percy whooped along with her and took her hand, grinning broadly. Annabeth leaned out the window and thought about the plan. They had two weeks to make it from New York to San Francisco, where they were staring college in New Rome this fall. In this time, they would drive across the country, stopping wherever they pleased, and hitting several key destinations that Annabeth had documented in their 'Road trip planner', a book full of maps and plans and cut-outs she had compiled.

Annabeth hadn't needed to think about what she would study at college, taking Architectural Design was only natural. Percy on the other hand, had muddled around with a few options before deciding.

"So, are you still happy with your decision to take photography?" Annabeth asked as they crossed the bridge. They had strategically decided to leave on a Sunday, so traffic was light.

"Yeah. I think it's gonna be really good." Said Percy. "It's a plain old bachelor of fine arts, but I can specialize in photography, and combine it with a minor in conservation. I think I want to do something with underwater photography, maybe do some awareness campaigns about endangered places and species using the photos I take. It'll be especially cool because I can get to places underwater no one else can, where the pressure is too strong or whatever, and take photos."

"Good luck finding a camera that can survive that pressure without spending a million bucks" Annabeth pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Darn it wise girl, you always have to point out the flaw in my plans." Said Percy.

"That's what I'm here for" Annabeth replied with a cheeky grin.

Percy had to remind himself to keep his eyes on the road. Even after a whole summer with Annabeth, he never became desensitized to how beautiful she was, inside and out. For their first day of travel she was wearing a jean miniskirt that made her long tan legs look like a million bucks, and a cozy oversize cream coloured sweater that practically drowned her. Percy had bought it at a thrift store for himself only to have her promptly steal it away. Her long blond hair, lightened by the summer days at camp and salt water, flickered to and fro in the breeze coming through her open window. Percy wondered how he had gotten so lucky.

A couple of hours later, and the two had left the city behind. They were cruising through the forested country of inner New York state. Their first destination was Chicago, then through Montana and the Dakotas to get to Canada, where they planned to drive through the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver. Then they would make their way down the West coast, passing San Francisco to visit the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, before backtracking to New Rome.

"We're making good progress for the first day. If we drive late tonight, we should make it to Chicago by noon tomorrow." Annabeth was consulting the road map that was splayed across her lap.

"We can drive late, but we'd better stop for some food soon, because I am getting seriously hungry" Said Percy.

"Me too. Let's do a grocery run in the next town. I'll make a list of what we need" said Annabeth.

"I know what we need. Pizza from the deli. Everything else is just bonus food" Percy stated decisively.

Annabeth teased Percy relentlessly over what he ate, but the truth of it was that she was just as much of a sucker for junk food as he was.

"Pizza it is."

That night, they ate in a picnic park not far from the grocery store. Percy pulled a wool blanket out of the back of the car, and the two laid on their stomachs consuming their extra cheesy pizza. The car was stocked with a few staple foods to get them through the next few days. Percy laughed at Annabeth when she took a bite of her slice and pulled off half the cheese with it. She swatted him on the shoulder, and then leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, not minding that he tasted like pizza sauce, because she did too. It was salty and gentle and Percy smiled in the middle of it making Annabeth laugh.

Annabeth pulled away after a few moments. "Hazel texted, she wants us to Skype tonight and tell her how the trip started. She said she'll try to round up Frank and Jason too"

"Aw sweet. Good luck to her, those guys are not easy to catch." Percy replied lightly.

"We'll have to find somewhere with wifi, I bet there's a 24 café with internet in the next city. It should be a couple of hours away." Said Annabeth.

It was twilight as the two packed up their picnic dinner and got back in the car. The first stars were just starting to light in the dusky blue sky, and a few thin clouds drifted like smoke in the otherwise clear evening.

Percy was yawning, so Annabeth climbed into the driver's seat and adjusted it to a normal heighted person position. As she pulled out of the park and back onto the secondary highway, Percy plugged his i-pod into the aux cord and put on some tunes. Arcade Fire played quietly, and when Annabeth looked over at Percy a few minutes later, he was fast asleep, his hood pulled up and the blanket draped over his knees.

Annabeth had loved driving ever since she had first learned at the age of 11, to drive the camp van on the back roads of Long Island. Driving was an important skill for demigods, since on quests, transportation options were often limited, and you sometimes had to commandeer a vehicle for the greater good of the world. For her, there was something soothing about the sense of control that came with being the driver, of knowing you got to decide where to go and when. She knew she had some trust issues, and still had some trouble when other people drove her, because she didn't always trust them to be safe, and to make smart decisions. Percy was the exception. Over the past couple of years, she had learned that despite his ADHD, Percy was an amazing driver. His reflexes were fast and he noticed details relevant to the road. He operated a stick shift like he'd been born doing it. The one time a deer had jumped out in front of their car while they had been going 40 m/h, Percy had reacted instantly, hitting the brake and clutch while swerving to miss the deer faster than she could process. She loved him for so many things, but the fact that she could sleep in the car while he drove because she trusted him implicitly was one of them.

 **Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated, more chapters to come in the next two weeks.**


	2. Chapter 2

Two hours later Annabeth pulled into a 24 hour coffee shop with a neon sign declaring that internet connection could be had there. Percy woke from his long nap when she stopped, and stretched in his seat.

"Wakey wakey sleepyhead" Said Annabeth.

Percy groaned, still hidden under his hood. "Why are our friends nocturnal? It's almost midnight."

"They aren't nocturnal" replied Annabeth. "It's only 8pm in San Fran. Four hour time difference."

Percy slouched out of the car and followed his girlfriend into the coffee shop. Annabeth bought a cookie while Percy ordered a black coffee. He would try and get in a few more hours of driving tonight. They sat down and connected to the wifi, and a few minutes later, Jason popped up on the screen of Annabeth's laptop.

"Annie! My girl! We miss you! Frank and Hazel are here too. Say hi guys!" Jason said.

The sounds of a muffled scuffle came from off screen, and Hazel's voice saying "Give the laptop back Jay, you can't have them all to yourself."

Frank's fuzzy head swung in and out of view, and then Hazel's dark sweet face appeared. The boys peered over her shoulders.

"Hey guys. How's the trip been so far?" Asked Hazel. Her voice was light, but there was a seriousness in the set of her dark brown eyes.

"Well, we've only been on it for about 10 hours, but it's been amazing." Replied Percy.

Annabeth had gone uncharacteristically silent. She was studying Hazel's face on the screen, and she looked worried. Suddenly, she spoke up.

"Hazel, tell us what's going on. I can tell that there's something wrong, and I can also tell that you're reluctant to tell us, probably because you don't want to spoil our wonderful road-trip. And so it must be something bad, something that will endanger our wonderful road-trip."

Percy had a baffled look on his face. It was clear he had not picked up on any of that, and was probably now thinking something like, how come girls are psychic?

Behind Hazel, Frank murmured something that sounded like "Busted".

Jason just sighed.

With an apologetic look, Hazel relented.

"I was going to tell you. I just didn't want you guys to have to deal with this right away, because it seems like all you ever deal with is magical godly dangerous drama, and you deserve a break. More than anybody."

"Wow", said Jason. "Magical godly dangerous drama. That could be an acronym. MGDD. Like TGIF."

"Okay, whatever you say Jason." Percy said with a grin. "Listen guys, dealing with MGDD is just what we do. We've resigned ourselves to our fate. Now please, tell us what's going on, the suspense is killing me."

Hazel took a deep breath, and dove in.

"Okay. So you know that Camp Jupiter monitors magical and monster activity around the country, right? In the past few weeks, there's been some strange activity along the west coast. Monster's are becoming more active, they're flocking here as if being attracted by some kind of beacon. Normally, monsters just kind of pop up and do their thing, but now, monsters who pop up in Kansas are coming to California to do their thing. It's like something attracting them."  
She paused and took a deep breath, and then continued.

"The numbers are rising fast. If we don't stop whatever is going on, the west coast could be overrun within months."

Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look. No matter how many potentially catastrophic scenarios you dealt with, the feeling of panic you got when you realized the scale of the crisis never went away. Under the table, the couple linked hands.

Hazel faltered, and Jason smoothly took over the briefing, turning the webcam to face him.

"That's not all. Usually, monsters mostly just go after demigods and magical beings. For the most part, they ignore humans. But now, human monster attacks are on the rise. Somethings got to be shifting their focus to the humans."

Jason looked slightly ill at the thought. Now Frank moved into the camera and spoke.

"Listen guys, we're worried about you, just the two of you travelling alone. It's not safe on the west coast for demigods anymore, outside of Camp. And I know, you guys are two of the most powerful demigods of this era. But as your friends, we worry. The monsters are hunting in swarms, because there are so many of them. They could overwhelm you."

Annabeth felt her heart warm at the concern her friends showed for Percy and her. After all they had been through together, 'friends' didn't even cover it. They were a family, and she could understand exactly where they were coming from, because the thought of losing any of the seven caused a pain to sharp to bear.

"Okay, this is bad. So what's the plan?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel had recovered her words by now, and reclaimed the webcam.

"Camp Jupiter is sending out a quest, and Jason and Frank and I are the nominees. Normally they would send out demigods who hadn't gotten a chance to quest yet, but this time… well, they think it's too dangerous for an inexperienced demigod. They don't want to lose anyone, and I guess we have a reputation for pulling off the impossibly dangerous."

Percy spoke up: "Are you guys okay with that? We're not the only ones who deserve a break, you all did just as much to defeat Gaea."

"It's like you said man," Said Frank. "It's what we do. We can't very well refuse."

"We should join forces." Annabeth was already beginning to plan, analysing and mapping in her mind. "We'll be safer as a group. Percy and I have to get to New Rome anyways, and we can't let you guys take this on alone."

Jason nodded in agreement, and Percy whooped.

"The seven reunited! Oh wait, the five I guess. Are Piper and Leo up to speed?"

"I was going to mention that." Replied Jason. "I talked to them earlier today. Chiron doesn't want them to come, he says that seven demigods will be too strong of a beacon for monsters. Five is already pushing it. And he wants his two best counselors, barring you guys of course, to stick around camp. But they believe, and I agree, that we're stronger together, even if it does mean a bigger group. They're coming to join us, sneaking out of camp tonight. I guess Leo has engineered a specially modified Jeep for the trip."

Annabeth nodded thoughtfully as she processed the new information.

"We should meet at the top of the coast, where it's somewhat safer, so that none of us have to travel through the danger zone alone. Maybe Vancouver? Hazel Frank and Jason, I assume you are flying? You won't be safe travelling over land."

"We've got protected passage from my dad to the meet up spot." Said Jason.

"Vancouver sounds perfect. That's my home turf!" Frank put in.

"Okay", Percy began decisively, "to recap, Annabeth and I will wait for Leo and Piper to catch up tonight. We'll drive to Vancouver to meet you guys at say, noon, two days from now, on the 23rd. There we'll all convene to make a plan, and we'll head down the coast and kick some monster butt!" He finished triumphantly.

"Also", Percy continued, "I insist that despite the fact that this is now technically a quest, we treat it as the fun and exciting road-trip it was meant to be. Annabeth and I have a lovely new car, and we will be most disgruntled if it gets injured."

Everyone agreed. They all pledged to protect the car with their lives if necessary.

 **Sorry it's short, this chapter was pretty much setting up the plot. Will hopefully update again by the end of the weekend. Pretty please review, it is so wonderful and helpful.**


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